Archive for Tropical

Well, Hanna behaved herself for the most part and did not intensify too much as she made landfall in SC. However, she did come ashore as a strong tropical storm. At the time of this writing, she is now moving NE away from Hampton Roads. Wind gusts to around 60 MPH have been reported at the Oceanfront in VA Beach. The rain is just about over and my storm total (including Friday’s rain) is 1.40 inches. Note that a dry slot has held down overall rainfall totals across the eastern portion of the region. The good news about this system is that it brought much needed rainfall to Hampton Roads. Yesterday (Friday), I picked up about a half inch as the tropical air ahead of Hanna surged into the region. Speaking of tropical air, the dew point last evening rose to an incredible 79 degrees. That’s about as humid as it can get in this part of the country. As Hanna moves quickly away later on Saturday, conditions will improve as our winds swing around from the SE to the SW and then the west. Sunday looks to be a nice day. Hurricane Ike is our next weather story but the latest guidance has it moving towards the Florida Straits or into Cuba. If it moves into Cuba, should weaken the storm. It has been moving on a W-SW track the last few days which is definitely good news for the SE Coast. I’ll have an update on Sunday.

Residents from GA to ME need to pay close attention of the track of what soon should be Hurricane Hanna. The track has been slowly shifting eastward which could make things quite interesting for Hampton Roads. Intensity forecasts are not very dependable and the forecast track of this storm is not set in stone. Unlike when Hurricane Isabel was approaching the NC coast, the weather pattern is quite complicated this time around. Why? First of all, there is a slowly departing large upper-level low pressure area off the New England coast. There is also a small upper-level low to the east of Hanna. High pressure is supposed to build in to the north of the cyclone and this should steer it towards the NW. It should also help to cut down on the shear which has been tearing the storm apart the past few days. Water temperatures are plenty warm enough to support some intensification. But how strong can the storm become? It’s hard to say. The forecast track takes it through our region early Saturday. Tropical storm force winds are possible along with very heavy rainfall. The only good news is that we do need the rain desperately. After Hanna moves by, we then have to watch where Ike is going to go. Please monitor your local media.

As Hurricane Gustav moves inland over Louisiana, all eyes will then turn to Tropical Storm Hanna which is looking quite healthy despite encountering shear from Gustav’s outflow. Gustav was never able to retain the intensity that it had when it hit Cuba and that makes the Louisiana Coast very luck considering what that would have meant had it hit as a category 4 storm. However, it still made landfall as a major hurricane and will cause quite a bit of storm surge, wind damage, and flooding. What about Hanna? This storm is expected to gain strength over the next few days as conditions improve over the storm. The current track takes it towards the South Carolina Coast but that is subject to change. Please closely monitor this storm throughout the week as it may have a significant impact on our weather here in Hampton Roads. Backing up to today (Labor Day), high pressure will nearly guarantee dry and sunny conditions for a few days. It’s ironic that this same high pressure area may be the thing that steers Hanna towards the East Coast. Please stay tuned!

Hurricane Gustav briefly became a category 4 storm on Saturday as it slammed into Western Cuba. Then, it weakened just a bit to a category 3 early Sunday. The hurricane is now heading NW towards the Louisiana coast. It may strengthen back to category 4 but remember, intensity forecasts are very tricky. Evacuations and preparations are well underway in New Orleans and other areas of the Louisiana coast. Officials want to ensure that they are much better prepared for this storm than they were for Katrina. There’s another storm out there and that is Hanna. Hanna is undergoing shear from an upper-level low that was expected to weaken but is hanging on. It’s also been affected by cooler getting into its circulation. Once the shear relaxes, Hanna may get its act together and become a full fledged warm core system. Models predict a west or west-southwest track eventually with this system which is a little unusual. If Hanna can survive the current hostile conditions, it could actually be a threat to the east coast. Please monitor your local media as well as the TPC for updates on Hanna. The timeframe for possible effects here in Hampton Roads will be next weekend. Our weather will be quite tranquil except for an isolated shower or thunderstorm early on Sunday from a slow moving cold front approaching from the NW. Eventually, slightly cooler air will move in behind the front on Monday and Tuesday with a northeast and east wind… sound familiar? We’ve seen this set up several times this month. I picked up 0.40 inches of rain on Friday from an isolated shower that popped up right over my neighborhood. Unfortunately, most of Hampton Roads was dry on Friday. Areas to our west picked up some pretty good rainfall totals this past week from Fay’s remnants. This rain missed Hampton Roads for the most part. Our deficit grows and is now six to seven inches for the year in some areas. I’ll have an update on Monday.